NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg misheard an announcement about retirements as she was leaving the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday. As a result, an NPR headline erroneously claimed that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was retiring. The headline sat atop a lengthy story that recapped the conservative justice's tenure. The error was also reported on NPR's airwaves. 

Alito is not retiring. The story was wrong. Here's how it happened. 

Totenberg was reporting on the final day of the Supreme Court session on Tuesday. As she was leaving the court, Chief Justice John Roberts was announcing upcoming retirements. Totenberg wondered why everyone else wasn't leaving and asked someone outside the court. According to her interview that same day on All Things Considered, Totenberg asked a bystander what was going on, and the person replied "retirement announcements." But Totenberg heard the reply in the singular, "announcement, " and assumed it was the notice that Alito was retiring.

NPR had the lengthy story about Alito's retirement already written, because that's what newsrooms do in anticipation of significant retirements and even deaths.

Totenberg spoke with both her intern, who was at the court with her, and NPR Executive Editor Krishnadev Calamur and told them what she heard. Calamur surfaced the story that NPR had previously prepared for the day Alito did announce his retirement and published it. The information was also broadcast on NPR's airwaves. NPR was offering special live coverage of the court's decision on the birthright citizenship case.

"We profoundly regret the error and the confusion that this has caused and Nina has reached out to Alito to apologize personally," Calamur told me.

Liam James Doyle / NPR Liam James Doyle hide caption

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Liam James Doyle

The story was published on NPR's website at 10:51 a.m. ET and it was live for about 5 minutes. It was up for longer periods on some member station websites. It was taken down and replaced with an editor's note by 10:57 a.m. The error was corrected on the broadcast at 11:07 a.m. ET. 

In the minutes after it was published, Totenberg called Calamur to tell him she was mistaken. 

"I was looking to see who else was reporting it, and nobody was reporting it, and then, basically, we realized that it was not true," Calamur said. "She called and said, 'I made a mistake,' and we rushed to make a retraction."

Totenberg is one of the most experienced reporters covering the Supreme Court. She's done so for NPR since 1975. Her status contributed to the error.

"She's the preeminent Supreme Court reporter in the courtroom," Calamur said. "So I'm assuming that's what she heard. … She's in the room. It's like when we report opinions. I'm not waiting to see what the Times is reporting. It's when Nina says, here's what happened, and we do it. That's the trust you build up."

In a statement, NPR Editor-in-Chief Tommy Evans said: "Due to a misunderstanding, NPR's Supreme Court and Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg incorrectly reported that Justice Samuel Alito had retired. Neither Justice Alito nor the Supreme Court Public Information Office has announced his retirement. As soon as the error was realized, the story was retracted and removed from NPR's website and an on-air correction was broadcast. We regret the error and any confusion this may have caused. This afternoon, Mrs. Totenberg will appear on All Things Considered to explain what happened. She has reached out to Justice Alito to apologize."

While, there's really no excuse for this kind of error, it was a result of an honest mistake and a rush to publish. Had it been true, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post and many other newsrooms all would have published their stories within minutes of each other.

Totenberg was rushing back to NPR studios for their live coverage of the birthright citizenship decision. For most news consumers, the error is a blip, something that flashed across their feed or they heard on their radio. It was corrected quickly and will not have lasting consequences.

For media watchers though, this error overshadows the special coverage NPR planned out for the last day of this Supreme Court session. There was rampant speculation across social media.

Ari Cohn, an attorney who specializes in First Amendment law, tweeted: I suppose the question is: Is this an obituary-like situation, where people pre-write the article in case it happens so they can publish near instantaneously? Or was the mistake that the retirement info was still embargoed? (More likely, I’d have to think)

Calamur said he'll be reviewing the process for posting breaking news. "This sort of shit should not happen," he said.

We in the Public Editor's office will keep looking at the processes that NPR uses to verify information. As Totenberg said on air later in the day, "It was a rookie mistake." But had a rookie made such a mistake, he or she would have been dismissed. To make such an assumption is inexplainable. Totenberg could have sent the intern back into the court to confirm the announcement. At the very least, when moving fast, the newsroom should require a second editor help the first one confirm information. — Kelly McBride

The Office of the Public Editor is a team. Reporters Amaris Castillo and Nicole Slaughter Graham and copy editor Merrill Perlman make this newsletter possible. Illustrations are by Carlos Carmonamedina. We are still reading all of your messages on social media and from our inbox. As always, keep them coming.

Kelly McBride
NPR Public Editor
Chair, Craig Newmark Center for Ethics & Leadership at the Poynter Institute